Scripture's most basic claim about God is that there is exactly one: not the greatest among several gods, not a force behind many gods, but the only one there is.
This God has no beginning and was made by no one — everything else that exists, exists because he made it.
That last point matters more than it might seem: it means the universe is not a piece of God, or God expressing himself through matter. It is something distinct from him that he brought into being and that depends on him — not the other way around.
What Scripture actually says
- There is one God. Deuteronomy 6:4 — Israel's central confession: "Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one." (WEB's translation of the Hebrew name YHWH; other Bibles render it "the LORD.")
- No god besides him. Isaiah 45:5 has God say plainly: "I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God."
- He has no beginning. Isaiah 40:28 calls him "the everlasting God... the Creator of the ends of the earth," who "doesn't faint" or grow weary — existence without origin or limit.
- Creation is his work, not a piece of him. Genesis 1:1 opens Scripture with God creating "the heavens and the earth" — something brought into being, distinct from its maker.
This is the ground every other page on this site stands on: whatever else is examined, it is examined against a God who is one, who made everything that is not himself, and who has always existed rather than having come to exist.
Examine it for yourself
The evidence, the interpretations and the conclusion, separated so you can examine each step. Every passage is linked; read them in context.
One God, not one among many
The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) is the confession observant Jews recite daily, and the New Testament writers inherit and affirm it rather than replacing it — see 1 Corinthians 8:6. Isaiah repeatedly has God rule out any rival: "I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God" (Isaiah 44:6). This is not "God is greater than other real gods" — it is a direct denial that any other god exists to be compared.
- Deuteronomy 6:4
Israel's central confession: one God, not many.
- Isaiah 45:5
"There is no one else. Besides me, there is no God."
- Isaiah 44:6
"I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God."
- 1 Corinthians 8:6
The New Testament restates the same claim in Christian language: one God the Father, one Lord Jesus Christ.
Eternal, self-existent, and uncreated
When Moses asks God's name at the burning bush, the answer is not a name in the ordinary sense but a claim to bare existence: "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14) — being itself, without derivation from anything prior. Isaiah 40:28 and Psalm 90:2 make the same claim in different words: God does not grow tired, because he has no beginning to run down from, and mountains — among the oldest things in the visible world — are themselves "brought forth" by him, not alongside him.
- Exodus 3:14
God's self-description at the burning bush — existence itself, without derivation.
- Isaiah 40:28
"The everlasting God" who does not grow weary.
- Psalms 90:2
"From everlasting to everlasting, you are God" — before the mountains existed.
Creator and creation are not the same thing
Paul's argument in Romans 1:20 assumes a clear distinction: God's "everlasting power and divinity" are perceived through what he made, the way a craftsman is perceived through his work — not because creation is a piece of him. In Athens, Paul makes the same point to a pagan audience directly: the God who made the world does not live in temples "as though he needed anything," because he is the giver, not a being sustained by what he made (Acts 17:24-25). Creation depends on God; God does not depend on creation.
- Romans 1:20
God's nature is perceived through what he made — the maker is not the same thing as the made.
- Acts 17:24-25
God is not sustained by anything he made; he is the one who gives life and breath to everything.
What the evidence supports
There is one God, eternal and uncreated, who made everything that exists apart from himself and is not to be identified with what he made.
Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 44:6 and 45:5 rule out any other god existing to be compared. Exodus 3:14, Isaiah 40:28, and Psalm 90:2 describe a God without origin or limit. Genesis 1:1, Romans 1:20, and Acts 17:24-25 distinguish the Creator from everything he made. This is the foundation every other page on this site stands on.
Examine further
- Psalms 147:5
"His understanding is infinite" — one of the classic attributes of God, examined further on this site's Attributes of God topic.
- Malachi 3:6
"I, Yahweh, don't change" — God's unchanging nature.
Discuss and study
- Why does it matter, practically, whether creation is something God made versus something that is a piece of him?
- What difference does it make to worship a God who existed before anything else, rather than one who came to be alongside the universe?